The Indian Army has inducted the first production lot of 12 10m-Short Span Bridging System (SSBS) during a ceremony held at Cariappa Parade Ground, Delhi Cantonment, New Delhi.
The bridging system has been designed and developed by Defence Research and Development Organisation’s (DRDO) premier engineering laboratory Research & Development Establishment (Engrs).
Short Span Bridging System
- The Indian Ministry of Defence (MoD) said that L&T is serving as the production agency.
- The 12 bridges are part of 102 10m-SSBS to be delivered by L&T.
- The SSBS project involved the development of two prototypes of 5m SSBS on Tatra 6×6 chassis and two prototypes of 10m SSBS on Tatra 8×8 re-engineered chassis.
- Both the 5m and 10m SSBS systems have undergone rigorous Directorate General of Quality Assurance (DGQA), MET and user trials.
- The systems completed all these trials and were recommended for induction into the services.
- Designed to offer a 4m wide and fully decked roadway, the 10m SSBS system helps fill gaps of up to 9.5m as a single span for rapid movement of troops.
- It is suitable for use with a 75m Sarvatra bridging system, where the last span requires less than 9.5m covering gaps.
- The deployed bridge has MLC 70 load classification and will also support resource deployment.
- Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said the induction will ‘give a boost to the fast-growing Indian defence industrial ecosystem and help the industry to contribute towards ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’’.
Late last month, the ministry announced the test-firing of a new generation advanced ballistic missile variant, Agni-P (Prime).
